City of Lowell Cuts Ribbon on New McPherson Park Traffic Playground

The new McPherson Park Traffic Playground, at 185 Hildreth St., features realistic looking pathways for children to ride bikes and scooters in a safe environment. The playground was designed with input from elementary school students, and includes several recognizable Lowell landmarks. The playground was added to McPherson Park using a $177,000 Community Development Block Grant. (Photo Courtesy City of Lowell)

LOWELL — The City of Lowell and the Department of Planning and Development, along with community partners, opened a new traffic playground at McPherson Park on Hildreth Street on Sunday.

The traffic playground is one of the first in Greater Lowell. The playground was built in a former parking lot in a section of McPherson Park adjacent to 185 Hildreth St. The area was repurposed and turned into a traffic playground where children of all ages can learn to ride bikes and scooters safely and out of traffic.

Potential designs for the playground were shown to students from the Greenhalge and McAuliffe Elementary Schools, and children helped pick the design they liked most — contributing that they wanted the park to contain multiple paths and to be as realistic as possible.

Road lanes, stop signs, and recognizable Lowell landmarks are painted onto the playground’s asphalt surface, creating pathways for young riders to follow and practice on.

Several benches and bike racks were also added to the area as part of a $177,000 renovation that was paid for with a Community Development Block Grant.

“We hope parents and caregivers will use this playground to teach their children how to ride in a safe, secure and enriching environment,” said Assistant City Manager and Director of Planning and Development Yovani Baez-Rose. “This is a great community space that will help ensure our children stay safe as they learn.”

The Lowell Police Neighborhood Response Unit, led by Capt. Dan Desmarais, and The Bike Connector, a community bicycle shop in downtown Lowell that helps teach young people and adults how to care for bicycles, collaborated by providing community engagement at events held while the park was under construction. Lowell Public Schools facilitated student engagement, and the Lowell Parks Department will provide ongoing maintenance of the playground.

Assistant City Manager Baez-Rose was joined at the ribbon cutting by City Councilors Corey Robinson and Erik Gitschier, and state Rep. Rodney Elliott. Numerous families, Lowell Police, and The Bike Connector also participated and experienced the playground as soon as it was opened. Lowla the bear made a special appearance.

“This playground is a great example of community collaboration at work,” said City Manager Thomas A. Golden, Jr. “The Department of Planning and Development sought input and engagement from students, neighbors, police, and a community business, all to create an innovative new opportunity for children. This type of teamwork and partnership is how we keep our city moving ever forward, and I want to thank the DPD for its leadership on this project.”

The McPherson Park Bicycle Playground is the second of 11 parks that the city is transforming in 2025, including eight that are being renovated with more than $7 million in funds from the American Rescue Plan Act. Renovating 11 parks in a single year marks a threefold increase over the city’s historic park renovation pace.

The overall project is one of the most ambitious investments in public space in recent Lowell history, and it will touch parks in neighborhoods across the city.

For more information on the park projects and other ongoing open space initiatives, please visit: https://www.lowellma.gov/1653/Open-Space-Projects.